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Misa

 Our kannadiga brothers will say I know it and I have it, touching the hair on their upper lips. I am not talking about mise or moustache in Kannada but MISA.
   I had heard this when I was a little girl. That is ages ago. In 1977 , then prime minister Indira Gandhi had declared state of Emergency. And then there was this law Misa. Maintenance of Internal security Act. Well at that time, I neither knew the full form nor its meaning. Very few things I remember. One of them is our school teacher saying that " A bus conductor was telling a lady " why are you so slowly getting down the bus like Indira Gandhi" Immediately he was arrested by plain clothes policeman who was present there. Second is the stories in magazines which used to eulogize the PM and her rule during emergency and blaming them as soon as she was dethroned. It was really disgusting.
   Now why do I refer to these. I am reading "A fine balance" Rohinson Mistry. The time frame of the book is Emergency period.
  P.S. Book is a reasonable read but tends to be too descriptive at times. If you want to get an insight into the lives of Parsis, you can read it.
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